A Hidden Magic
by Kawaii Stella
Summary: Miss Faragonda fears danger ahead. Palladium searches for family. Meanwhile, a 17 year old girl's world turns upside down. And just what did Wizgiz do in Ireland last winter? Story better than summary! Please R&R!
1. Memories

**A/N: Here is the first chapter! I hope I get some reviews since this is my first Winx story. DISCLAIMER: I, KAWAII STELLA, DO NOT OWN THE WINX CLUB.**

Note: This story takes place before the Winx Club comes to Alfea.

A Hidden Magic

Chapter One

Memories

~Alfea College for Fairies ~

Yesterday had been the last day of term for Alfea students. Last night the girls had packed to go home for summer. The faculty had packed as well, but this morning as the students left for home Headmistress Farigonda secretly called an urgent staff meeting to take place as soon as the last student had gone home.

The last few students went home and the staff gathered in Headmistress Faragonda's office. All teachers were accounted for, including Professors DuFour, Wizgiz, Palladium, Ms. Griselda, and others. Gathered around Faragonda's desk, the teacher's noticed that the Headmisteress' delightful smile had been replaced with a solemn look as she addressed the staff.

"I know that you'd all like to leave for your vacations, but I'm afraid I have troubling news."

With rapt attention form the faculty, Miss Farigonda proceeded.

"I fear that there is something going wrong in the magical universes. Something, I am afraid, will cause a dramatic and dangerous peril for whoever is involved. That is why I want everyone to keep their eyes open for anything suspiciously unusual. Also, I want us all to stay in touch during the course of the summer, understood?"

"Yes, Headmaster," the faculty chanted back.

"Very good, I imagine that you are all packed to leave for your vacations," Farigonda said. "So I have one thing left to say: Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!" She said with a smile.

With that, the faculty was dismissed to return to their quarters to retrieve their things so that they may leave on holiday. Professor Wizgiz and Professor Palladium walked down a corridor to their private quarters.

"So, Professor Wizgiz," Palladium began. "Do you have any plans for the summer?" Asked the shy elf.

"Just headed home to see my family," said the leprechaun in his Irish accent. "Then maybe I'll head back to Ireland for another adventure. Do you have anything planned, Professor?"

"You certainly had a time in Ireland last winter didn't you? As for me, I'm going to a dimension rather far to see my family; to see relatives that I've not seen since childhood." Palladium said.

"Yes I did!" Maybe those two singers will be there again," Wizgiz wondered to himself. "But that's nice that you're going to see your kin after so long. I imagine you'll have plenty of catching up to do."

"Indeed I will. Well, have a nice summer, Professor."

The two wished each other a good holiday and left to gather their things. Palladium gathered his trunks together and using a spell, shrunk everything down into a box to fit inside his knapsack, leaving a book and a few photographs out on their own.

In the first photograph it showed a young Palladium perhaps seven or eight years old with two older elves; a male and a female. They were his biological parents. Not three months had passed after this photograph had been taken when Palladium's parents had been killed by a renegade psychotic vampire. That vampire had killed many others in Palladiums village, but he had been the only orphan as a result of the attack. That's when the new people came.

There were some elves that were absolutely terrified of vampires even before the attack; others were okay with them as long as no trouble was brought by them. The new people hailed from the country of Aldenmor. Two of them were the monarchs of the country. Palladium had hidden in the bases of the huge trees in the woods while the strangers wondered the village. Really, he hid there often as he found himself the target of his villages' pity. So he didn't even know that there were strangers in the village. Palladium didn't want their pity, he wanted understanding.

The king of Aldenmor had decided to take a walk through the forest when he found the young Palladium hiding under a tree. The king asked Palladium why he was there and Palladium told his woeful tale. In the king Palladium found what he wanted, understanding of his feelings, and he had found a friend. The monarch and his wife took to liking the young elf so much, by the time they left a week later, they had adopted Palladium into their already large family.

That left the tired and last picture that Palladium had left out. It was a picture of an eight year old Palladium and his new baby sister from his adoptive parents. The photograph was a snapshot as it did not show the baby girl's twin brother.

Palladium grew to know and love his new family; he had become a part of the family, despite them being vampires themselves. Palladium could tell that these people were truly good, unlike the beast that had killed his parents. In almost a year's time after the adoption, Palladium had settled into his new home, though unbelievably shy and unconfident, when two bundles of joy had entered their lives. The twins truly miracle children.

Despite being two months premature, the twins overcame all odds. The doctors had told the family that the twins would not survive very long, as they were weak and sickly. The only words o hope the doctors gave were that the baby boy might live to be maybe two months old; they gave the furl three weeks, as she was much smaller than her twin. The girl was also troubled by a weak heart. The family braced themselves for tragedy but never gave up a shred of hope and neither did the premature babies in their ICUs. They fought against the tide and the twins defied the doctors' prediction. The twins grew up strong after a few struggles in their first few years then became strong enough to get into pee-wee hockey.

The twins were attached to all their siblings, having deeply bonded to all of their brothers and sisters. However, the baby girl, Autumn, especially attached to Palladium. Palladium, of course, was thrilled that she wanted to be with him out of all of her other blood siblings. Then she was taken away, due to a tragedy that had deeply scarred Autumn. She was sent away to live a normal, non-royal live with her memories of her real family and life locked up away from her. After that they moved on, Palladium grew up and went to a magic school and eventually became a teacher.

With that memory he picked up the book and the three pictures and put them in his knapsack and left the school, saying farewell to various teachers as her walked out of school boundaries. No he walked into the forest outside of Alfea's gates.

'It's been almost eleven years since I've seen her,' Palladium thought to himself. 'I wonder how much she's grown and changed since then. I can't wait to find out!'

With that Palladium opened a portal using his magic and entered it and within moments arrived in his chosen dimension, although a bit off course. About ten miles off course, actually. He had landed in a field on the edge of a forest.

"What an amazing place!" Palladium breathed.

The dense wood, at which Palladium stood at the edge of, was lush, green, and full of life. There were hundreds of types of plants. The indigenous trees were quite diverse as well. Palladium, being as fascinated by nature as he is, lost no time becoming engrossed with the local flora. So much, in fact, that he did not hear the four-wheeler arrive in the next field over.

As Palladium observed a new plant , one that had many long vines and had small, delicate flowers in white and yellow, he remembered coming here as a young child. He, as a young child, had been to this dimension of Earth thrice before. However, then he had been more interested in playing in the creeks than in studying the plants. Today marked his fourth time into this dimension. Little does he know that getting a family reunion won't be as easy as it sounds.


	2. Attacked

A/N: Hi guys! It's been a while since I've updated this one hasn't it? Sorry. For a while I kinda lost my passion for this one but don't fret, I've found it again and things are going well. Please review and enjoy!

A Hidden Magic

Kawaii Stella

Chapter Two

Attacked

'I can't believe this!' Seventeen year old Autumn said to herself as she rode down a woodland path on her red four wheeler.

Sometimes it was impossible to believe that her life had taken such an insane turn since summer vacation began three weeks ago. Being told that the people she believed to be her parents weren't really her parents passively over dinner was the start of it all. From there it all went downhill. The constant appointments to positions of power, village council, a change of appearance every other day; Autumn just didn't know what to do.

It started three weeks ago, just days after the end of her junior year.

_Flashback_

_Everything was perfect for Autumn as her summer vacation spanned out ahead of her. Autumn was stoked to be out of school; no alarm clock to wake her up at six a.m.. Sleeping in and staying up late was certainly on her agenda. Well, it was until dinner on her fourth night off._

_Autumn's mother had made lasagna, one of Autumn's favorites, for dinner. Since Autumn's father was working late, she took her plate to go eat in the living room as to eat while watching TV. But as she grabbed her plate her mother stopped her._

_"Autumn, I need to tell you something."_

_"What?"_

_"I am not your real mother; I'm your aunt."_

_"You're kidding, right?" Autumn had asked, shocked._

_"No, dear, I'm not. You need to know since you'll be back with your family soon anyways."_

_Autumn was stunned; she didn't know what else to say. Silently she ate her dinner, contemplating what would happen next. For the rest of the night she avoided the people she knew now were her aunt and uncle. She went to bed feeling very alone and betrayed. The next morning, things were even worse._

_Autumn woke up at seven thirty, the house already empty. Outside it was rainy and slightly chilly as the hetr of the summer had yet to arrive. The weather matched her mood as she forced herself out of bed. She first went to brush her long strawberry blonde hair when she made a startling discovery. Her hair was blue. A very pretty shade of royal blue, but still a stark difference from her normal hair color._

_'It had to be some kind of trick,' Autumn had thought. She sniffed her hair. It didn't smell like dye, but she couldn't be sure. So she ran across the hall into the bathroom to scrub her hair clean. She shampooed her hair three times, hoping that it was taking the blue away. After probably forty minutes of frantic scrubbing, Autumn finally got out of the shower, toweling her head dry. Autumn turned on the vent to clear the bathroom of steam so she could see into the mirror. Once she could see her reflection, she hated what she saw._

_Her hair wasn't just royal blue anymore. Now it was mostly blue with a section of lighter blue and her bangs were white. And now her bright blue eyes had a violet hue to them. That was the last straw. She wanted answers to her questions and her hair back to strawberry blonde. Hopefully her grandparents could give her the answers she sought. So, Autumn threw on a pair of ripped up blue jeans and a black under armour long sleeved shirt. She grabbed her raincoat, and walked up the road to get some answers._

_End Flashback_

"They gave me answers, but not the ones I wanted," Autumn said to no one in particular as she dismounted her four wheeler. "At least my hair is back to its normal color," she mumbled.

That first time her hair had turned color had not been the lat. At least now Autumn knew how to change her hair back by herself. The first time, when her hair had turned blue, she had arrived at her grandparent's house, only to have her grandpa burst into laughter, saying that she looked exactly like her real daddy. It was then Autumn realized that everyone had known all along and that everyone now knew that she knew. It had been awful, like she had been part of a really bad joke. She had felt humiliated and alone. Why had this happened to her? Did her real parents not care enough to raise her themselves?

'Whatever,' Autumn had thought. 'I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself just fine.'

She had tried to move on, putting this behind her. But some people just couldn't leave her alone. They had tried to involve her in town and clan affairs more than she already was. Autumn didn't want to become more involved. She wanted to simply enjoy her summer vacation the way she wanted to.

Autumn's favorite place in the area was a small spring hidden by a creek. Meaning that if the creek was full, there wasn't a spring to be found, but if the creek was dry, there was a small circle of a spring that appeared in the middle of the creek. The spring was special because its water was a beautiful baby blue. Lucky for her the creek was dry and so she could get to the natural little spring. She sat at its edge and stared into the calm waters. Contemplating all that had happened made her head hurt. She had to calm down. Planning her next art project was the sensible way to do that. Autumn thought that a mosaic would be a lovely change of pace. Then she saw a glittering red object.

"I swear there was something red glittering in the water but that can't be. That area of water is so deep that after a few inches in, the water becomes opaque blue." Autumn said to herself. Then she saw it glitter again.

She decided to see if the glittering red thing was actually in the water. She walked to the low tree branch where she had hung her backpack and took off her jewelry and put it in one of the pockets for safe keeping because she didn't want to lose her jewelry in the water. Then she rolled up her jeans as high as she could and took off her sneakers. She went back to the edge where she had been sitting and waded in to try and grab the sparkly thing, if it was really there. She waded in to her knees and got a steady stance to bend over and grab the object. As she reached out to grab it she saw some kind of monster. It looked like a yellow ogre, completely unlike Shrek.

'It can't be real, there's no way something like that exists out here!' Autumn thought to herself.

The creature began walking towards her. She scrambled out of the water and put her sneakers back on. Autumn then snuck through the trees to get a closer look. Hiding in the brush she was about ten feet from the monster when it stuck its nose in the air, smelling for something. Then it looked straight in her direction. It walked, rather it stomped, towards her and ripped away part of the brush that had been covering her, staring right at Autumn. Autumn screamed at the top of her lungs and ran for her bag thinking, 'Why did I scream? There is no one around to hear me!' She was barely escaping the ogre's grasp.

Palladium heard a shrill shriek as he crossed into the other field. He immediately sensed that something was very, very wrong. He heard another scream and ran towards the origin of the sound, seeing some sort of vehicle not too far away.

Meanwhile, Autumn had climbed up a tree, barely evading the ogre's grasp. The branch she clung to was weak and was having a hard time supporting her weight. It started to break and bend down. Autumn tried to climb up as the thing yelled, "Give me the rune!"

"I don't have a rune!" Autumn screamed as she and slipped down an inch. That inch was enough for the ogre to grab her ankle with its massive hand, holding her upside down.

"It is here! You have it!" the ogre yelled as it shook her about. The ogre was about eight feet tall, a dramatic difference from Autumn's five feet.

"No I do not!" Autumn yelled back.

"Then you are useless waste," it growled and went into the blue water. It turned her upright and squatted down, pushing the girl down into the water until it covered her shoulders. Autumn immediately knew the thing was going to drown her and she screamed again. The ogre pushed her down and she kicked and fought as the water began to come to her mouth. Her time was running out quickly.

Palladium came to the creek where he saw the giant ogre trying to push somebody under water. He gasped and ran towards the giant who had nearly succeeded in his task. The girl let out a gurgled noise, trying to say'Please, someone help me!' as things began to go dark for her. Palladium saw the girl begin to grow limp as she began to lose consciousness. He ran at full speed towards the girl and unleashed a spell at the ogre, knocking it out cold. The girl barely heard the spell being shouted, it sounded like a mumble. Then she barely felt a tug on her arm; Palladium had jumped into the water, pulling Autumn into his arms. He carried the unconscious girl out of the water. On dry land Palladium brought the girl to and patted her back as she coughed up water. Finally breathing regularly, Autumn looked at her hero, a tall, slender young man with long orange-gold hair and pointy ears.

"Are you all right, my dear?" Palladium asked.

"You, you saved me from that thing. Thank you so much! Um, who are you?"

"I just wanted to help. My name is Palladium."

"You certainly did help. My name is Autumn. Uh, what is that thing?" Autumn asked, looking at the unconscious monster.

"That is a mountainous climate ogre. They are not at all indigenous to this area. In fact, I have no clue as to how this one got here or why it was after you." Palladium explained.

Autumn began to speak in response but then the ogre started to stir. She sprang up, ready to run but faltered as she got to her feet; a sharp stinging ran through her lower calf.

"Oww!" Autumn gasped.

"You're leg is injured; you should be sitting down!" Palladium said as he noticed blood running Autumn's leg.

"Nuh-uh! Not with that thing still wanting to kill me!" Autumn said, still looking for away to get away from the ogre.

The thing sat up, looking straight at Autumn and Palladium. However, before the ogre could get to its feet, an orb of light enveloped it. Then, it was gone. In amazement Autumn looked at Palladium in awe. He had magically sent the ogre away. But he didn't seem concerned about almost being attacked by the giant creature, he seemed concerned about Autumn whose leg was still bleeding.

"Please, sit down," Palladium urged.

Autumn didn't argue this time. Her leg was really hurting now. Slowly she sank to the ground. Palladium knelt beside her, a first aid kit floating besides him. With all that had happened in the last fifteen minutes Autumn was not surprised with the magic Palladium used. Palladium wiped the blood away, revealing a long but shallow gash. He wrapped the gash in gauze and bandages tightly. As Palladium tied off the bandage he asked Autumn the obvious question. "Why was that ogre after you?"

"I don't know," Autumn answered. "It kept yelling at me to give it a rune. I think it wanted this thing I found in the water." Autumn held up the red jewel attached to a string.

"That's a rune alright," Palladium confirmed. "You need to keep that thing safe, Autumn. In the wrong hands that thing could do much harm; it's very powerful."

"Shouldn't you take it? I mean, I have no idea about magic. You'd do much better job of taking care of this thing than I would."

"No, whether you realize it or not, you've got magic somewhere in you. You wouldn't have found this rune otherwise." Palladium took the rune from the Autumn's hand and slipped it around her neck. They then heard the cry of a falcon circling nearby.

"Thanks," Autumn said to Palladium as she looked at the rune some more. Then the falcon cried again, louder.

"You're welcome," Palladium said with a smile. "That bird must be after something," he said, looking to the sky for it.

Then, the falcon swooped down at the two. It held a small scroll in its talons. It circled, looking for a place to land. Autumn ran to her backpack, taking out a thick leather glove.

"It's a messenger falcon," Palladium realized as Autumn ran back to where he was standing. She slipped on the leather glove onto her right hand.

"Yeah, it's one of my clan's," Autumn told him. She whistled to the majestic bird and it swooped down, dropping the scroll into Palladium's hands. "Huh, she must have been searching for you."

"How do you know she's a she?" Palladium asked.

"Because I practically raised Janice here," Autumn said then proceeded to coo to the bird. The bird took off again only to return a few moments later. It dropped a shard of purple glass into Autumn's other hand. Autumn proceeded to thank and coo to the bird some more while Palladium read his message.

The message was from Faragonda. It was restating what Palladium already knew, that an ogre had gotten loose and she wanted to get everyone together to investigate why it had gotten here. She wanted them to meet at a place called Antioch.

"Antioch," Palladium repeated to himself. "I have no clue where that is…"

"It's right up the hill," Autumn told him as she petted Janice the falcon. "I can take you there if you'd like. I know the whole area."

"That would be wonderful! Thank you!"

"No problem. Besides, you've saved my hide twice today, so I owe you one." She said, shrugging. "Alright Janice, time for you to take off; I'll see you back at home." Autumn threw her arm into the air and the bird took off, flying into the blue sky. "Alright, let's go."

"How are we going to get there exactly?" Palladium asked.

"By four wheeler." Autumn said as she picked up her backpack. She saw Palladium look at the four-wheeler with a slightly unknowing gaze. "Never been on a four-wheeler?"

"Uh, no, I haven't." Palladium admitted.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. It's fun." Autumn told him with a reassuring smile. She placed her backpack into the crate attached to the rack in front of the handlebars. Then she mounted the vehicle and said, "Ready?"

Palladium hesitantly mounted the four-wheeler behind Autumn.

"I'm just gonna warn you that these hills are steep. So you might want to hold on." Autumn warned before starting the vehicle.

Palladium held onto the bars behind the seat as she started to drive up the hills. While going up the hill, she hit one a little faster than Palladium expected. He began to panic and unthinkingly grabbed onto Autumn's waist. She laughed aloud; she thought Palladium's actions were hilarious. Finally they reached an old cemetery where Autumn pulled over next to then parked.

"Here we are," she said. "Looks like someone else is here too…"

"This is Antioch? I didn't expect a cemetery. I know her, so I guess this is where I'm supposed to be." Palladium said.

"Yeah, few people know about this place anymore; there used to be a church and one room school house but those have been gone for years now." Autumn informed him.

"Interesting…" Palladium said becoming lost in thought.

"Yeah, it is. Well, I'm going to take off. Thanks for saving me. If you need anything, don't hesitate to look me up. Everyone around here knows me so I'm not that hard to find."

With that she took off, leaving Palladium to meet with the others who were yet to arrive. Within ten minutes everyone was gathered and Faragonda started the meeting.


End file.
